The kids have a Friday off from school, therefore, we thought it would be a good day to see the Expo for the last time. The World Expo, with 189 Countries participating, closes on Sunday, October 31. The only problem is as the Expo gets closer to the end more people are attending. Last Saturday, October 16, was the record attendance of over 1 million people in one day. We were going with an open mind that we might not last long!

We are spending the Expo day with the Jenkins (Jennifer, Sean & Sophie) and the Bishops (Faith, Avery & Riley). Jennifer and I decided to take the first ferry at 8:30am to get an early start. We had planned to walk the two blocks to the ferry. However, since Scott was leaving for work at the same time, he offered to drive us the two blocks. We would be standing and walking all day, therefore, we took the offer for the ride.

When we arrived at the ferry terminal, the line was over three blocks line to get in the ferry terminal. Plan B, Scott would drive us to the Expo site. Once we arrived at the Expo site, we weren’t sure we made the correct decision. The lines and people were crazy. The gates open at 9am. We joined the long queues waiting for the gates to open.

Sean wanted to see Saudi Arabia, but it always has a long line. Since we were here before the gates open, we told Sean and Emmy they could run for the pavilion once we got in BUT stay together. Sean had his phone so we could find them. Once we finally got in the gates, the two ran for the pavilion. However, by the time we got there, the line was already very long – amazingly long. It was almost 10am, already.

We decided to go to Qatar as I promised the girls they could get their henna tattoos. There was no line at the Pavilion when we arrived. However, we did have to wait 45 minutes in the henna line. The lady gave each girl a butterfly tattoo and not the beautiful designs of last time – Emmy was disappointed!

When we left the Qatar building, the queue was over an hour. It was time to find Faith and girls, which was surprisingly easy with all these people. We all brought copies of our passports so the USA Pavilion may be the only one we see today. With our passport, we can get in the fast pass line.

We took the “people movers”. These were special cars, holding about 10 people, driving back and forth on an elevated roadway. It cost 20rmb a person, which we gladly paid. We want to go to the far end of the Expo site. There are free buses that moved people, but they are overcrowded. It was nice to see the Expo from above.

USA Pavilion was in four exhibit halls. The entry hall had videos of people trying to speak Mandarin. Of course, we thought this was funny as we struggle with the words. We also noticed, the young American Student welcoming the people with beautiful Chinese.

The next theater had many famous individuals speaking about communities.

The third exhibit hall was a video “The Garden” about a little girl’s determination to build a garden. She pulls in neighbors to help as they watch her determination against weather and bullies ripping up her work.

The fourth exhibit show was a presentation on how Americans are taking practical steps to make “Better City, Better Life” a reality.

We left the USA pavilion with very hungry tummies as it was after 2pm. The day does get away from you when you are standing in lines. We went back to the Italian place for pizza & pasta we ate at with the Grandparents. Of course, it was more crowded than before. We sent the kids to find a table as they will “hover” until one was available – and they did score a nice big one for us. We enjoyed a long lunch before going to the African pavilion for a bit of shopping.

After our shopping, it was time to leave the World Expo. I enjoyed the last day of our Expo adventures. I went to the World Expo four different times during the six months it was in Shanghai. It is interesting to see such a large exhibit of the World Countries coming together, however, I would not fly to the next World Expo City to see it in the future.

We all came back to our home for a glass of wine after a long day of too many people.